a path of life

My Personal Involvement with Marijuana.

I first became interested in marijuana as a medical student in the late 1960s. My med school pharmacology class only taught us one thing about marijuana, “It’s illegal.” There was no discussion of drug-drug interactions, possible benefits, or half-life —none of the typical information that we received about all the other medications.   The lack of education about marijuana sparked my curiosity, and I began to study and research it on my own.  I subsequently realized that marijuana was a valuable medication for many medical and psychiatric conditions and that it was remarkably safe. I also discovered that there had been a Director of Marijuana Research for the National Institute of Mental Health, Dr. Tod Mikuriya, MD, before the position was politically eliminated. Unfortunately, marijuana was then removed from the United States formulary for political reasons as they wanted to incarcerate Blacks and Hispanics who used more marijuana than whites. Tragically it was remarkably successful as it led to the incarceration of generations of blacks and Hispanics, ruining their lives by leaving them ex-felons.

As a Special Forces Captain (physician) in the United States Army during the Vietnam era, I had the honor of caring for some of our returning Vietnam vets, many of whom suffered from PTSD. There were very few treatments for PTSD back then and this was compounded by their nightmares and flashbacks. Many of these veterans told me how beneficial marijuana was when they were able to get it in Vietnam. Years later, while in private psychiatric practice in California, approximately a quarter of my patients were veterans and in 1996, on the day that marijuana became legal under California proposition 215, about five of my veteran patients that had been using street marijuana for self-treatment of their PTSD without my knowledge, called to ask for a medical marijuana card. I immediately wrote them prescriptions that enabled them to get their marijuana cards, and was thus the first doctor in the U.S. to prescribe marijuana. For the next several years, I treated more people with medical marijuana than all other physicians in Sonoma County combined. I found Marijuana to be one of the most effective and safest treatments for PTSD, anxiety, severe chronic pain and insomnia.

Because many of my veteran patients also had orthopedic problems and since marijuana was now legal in California, they could inform their orthopedic surgeons that I was prescribing it for them and that it was significantly reducing their pain. It didn’t take long before their orthopedic surgeons started to ask me if I’d be willing to care for some of their failed back surgery patients. This gave me the opportunity to learn just how effective marijuana was for patients with severe chronic pain. Marijuana contributed toward eliminating or dramatically reducing their need for opiates. They did very well on a combination of marijuana and opiates or on marijuana alone, and I never had one patient overdose, get addicted to opiates or commit suicide.

One of the conditions that every psychiatrist deals with in his or her practice is the adverse effects of all kinds of trauma. Whether it is a traffic accident, witnessing a shooting, childhood abuse, verbal abuse, childhood sexual trauma or rape, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is extremely common. And for those over 21 years of age, marijuana is one of the best treatments.

 During one of my medical school reunions in Washington D.C., I stopped by the national headquarters of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, and introduced myself to Alan St. Pierre, its executive director. He was very happy to have another physician supporting the legalization of marijuana, and I have continued to be a marijuana advocate since that time.

     In the early days of my advocacy, I was often accused of being a quack, a fraud, and someone who didn’t care if our teenagers became addicted to weed. I was called a drug pusher and told that I should never have even been given a medical license.

How times have changed! Years later when John Ralston, a renowned Nevada political commentator, interviewed me, he called me “a visionary, a man ahead of his time.” Now when I discuss the medical benefits with my patients and tell them that I was the first marijuana doctor in the United States, they smile and congratulate me.

    I was always afraid the DEA was monitoring me and did not want to jeopardize my medical license, so I never tried marijuana until I first retired at age 64. At that time, I was dating a lovely lady who asked me why I never mentioned or tried marijuana. I explained that I’d been cautious because I didn’t want to jeopardize my license or practice, but that now this was no longer an issue. She baked me some special brownies and I decided tried one. I remember that night more distinctly and delightfully than my honeymoon!

    I have now been prescribing and recommending marijuana for 27 years, and each year, more of my patients are willing to try it.  I’ve found more therapeutic uses for it as I’ve expanded my practice to include developmentally disabled and autistic children, as well as incarcerated adults. I’ve had severely developmentally disabled children on 3 to 7 strong medications, and yet most of their aggressive behavior remained.  Adding one quarter of an edible 10 mg  marijuana gummy to their protocol has sometimes  led to remarkable calming benefits and in some cases has enabled a reduction in the number of potentially toxic meds prescribed, thereby not only improving care, but also saving the government significant amounts of money. One autistic eleven-year-old was violent and kicked and destroyed their TV, fought with his parents and siblings, and yet within a few days of adding marijuana, he was dramatically more cooperative and well behaved.

      The ex-convict patients that I have treated also benefitted greatly from marijuana, as it is both a “step down” drug that reduces cravings for the opiates, meth, coke, and alcohol that originally contributed to their incarceration, as well as a treatment for they their PTSD,-- psychological wounds that were compounded in the traumatic and anxiety-producing environment of their drug addiction, and prison.

     Seniors are one of the fastest-growing populations of cannabis users in the United States. While some older adults have used pot for decades, studies suggest that others are turning to it now for the first time to help them sleep better, reduce pain and/or decrease anxiety — especially when prescription drugs, which often come with unwanted side effects, don’t work as intended. In 2007, only about 0.4 percent of people age 65 and older in the United States had reported using cannabis in the past year, according to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health. That number rose to almost 3 percent by 2016. As of 2022, it was at more than 8 percent.” (Christina Caron, Nov. 16, 2023, NYTimes.com)

    I am now a senior, one of the fastest growing populations of marijuana users and about eight months ago, I began eating one quarter of a 10 mg THC/CBD gummy nightly and the results have been astounding. I had developed a “senior shuffle,” much like President Biden’s and within a month, my shuffle disappeared. I had also been on a sleep apnea machine for about a year. After taking gummies for three months, to my amazement, I no longer needed the C-pap machine.  I have had an enlarged prostate (Benign Prostatic Hypertrophy) for years and would urinate 3-4 times nightly. With the marijuana gummies, it is now usually only twice. I inherited significant hypertension from both of my wonderful grandfathers. Utilizing cannabis, my blood pressure is now perfect, on a dramatically reduced dosage of blood pressure medication.

      I had also developed some balance issues, even having to lean against a wall to put on my pants. My doctor referred me to a specialized physical therapy program for balance and after completing the six- week program, my score on their specialized balance machine improved from 50 to 58, a statically significant improvement.  After taking gummies for a few months, I retook the balance test and this time scored a 66, another eight point statistically significant improvement. I’ve also found that I sleep better since using gummies and consistently require one less hour of sleep each night. My last medical benefit was having the lowest eye pressure I have had since developing glaucoma and being on eye drops for two years.

    In summary, I will be a marijuana fan for the rest of my life and look forward to sharing more of the amazing economic, social, psychological, political, societal and medical benefits of legalizing this miraculous natural herbal medication.